August 11 – “Jam Camp”

A few weeks ago the Seaside Retreat Center hosted a group called the Galveston Jam Camp.  They were a group of students of all ages who spent a week being taught musical skills by local music professionals.  The camp ended up with two concerts.  The first was an outdoor affair at Sangerfest Park over on the Strand.  The second was a more formal presentation at the Grand Theater downtown.  Chris and I were able to take in most of the outdoor concert before we had to head home to host our home group.  I have to admit that I was amazed at the abilities of the kids involved. 

They started out with a younger group and worked their way up to the older, more experienced ones.  Those are the ones we missed when we had to leave early.  And if the skills of the younger kids were any evidence at all of what the older ones were capable of, then I think we might have missed something really special.  Those youngsters we saw were amazing.  A ten-year-old played a harmonica solo.  One little guy amazed everyone with his percussion skills.  He turned Seaside’s conga drums into something alive with his sense of rhythm.  And that’s just when he wasn’t playing the regular drum set.  Kids played electric and bass guitars.  Others played keyboard or sang.  And the music wasn’t “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” either.  They did a lot of blues numbers, which was appropriate, since several of the boys were outfitted in costumes that would have made the Elwood and Jake proud.  Oh, and I have to make special mention of the crowd favorite.  That honor would easily fall to the little girl who was playing … ready for this? … the washboard.  Yep.  And she was nothing less than amazing.  Oh, and I was really bowled over when I found out her name.  Couldn’t be more appropriate.  Lulu.  Amesome.  Be watching for some of these kids in the years to come.  In fact, be watching next summer.  Jam Camp has already reserved another week at Seaside. 

Psalms 92:1-3 says, “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp.”

Father, thank you for music and children, especially when the two of them fit together.  Amen.